Disney Employee Engagement Speaker
Five daily blogs about life's 5 big choices on five different sites.
Paris, 2009, heading to Helsinki, Finland for the Masters World Championships…
I’m here to help you stay motivated. Don’t let disappointments convince you to quit. Ever.
Held every two years, the World Master’s Athletics Track and Field championships begin today in Sacramento, California. First time in 15 years Worlds has been on America soil.
With every reason to be bitter for missing this (potential once-in-a-lifetime) home field advantage, I refuse to.
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Let’s shake it up a little bit today. You good with that? Good. Let’s go back to this past summer.
Here’s the scene. Early August, 2009. Sunny, clear, 70 degrees.
Finland.
Master’s Track & Field 2009 World Championships. Men’s 400 meters, 70-74 year old age group.
Enter a German man.
Click here to see the secret this “old man” reveals about getting and staying healthy.
PS. If you are too busy to follow this and invest two more minutes, please go look in the mirror and say something like, “I really do want to get healthy and stay healthy, but I just really don’t want to work very hard at it.”
What can we learn from defeat, loss, failure?
Many things to be sure. But only if we try hard to learn from setback. And only if we listen. And only if we then try again.
Are you listening? And I don’t mean, “Sleigh bells ring, are you listening”.
I mean, are you the kind of person that will pick yourself up after you fall?
Are you the type of person that finds a million ways to stay motivated?
You see, getting motivated is one thing. What makes winners is staying motivated.
Oh wait, you want to tell me something, right?
Okay, go ahead.
“Jeff, you don’t understand, my life is hard. It’s very difficult.”
Here’s a Christmas gift for you, and it is given with the most hopeful and sincere intent – “No one has it easy. Period. End of story.”
This may scare some people off, and I would hate to see that happen, but I can’t allow myself to make excuses.
How can I teach our son (9), that it’s okay to make excuses?
Have you ever had something really important or “big” in your life, a long-time dream perhaps, where you where getting close to the end of your journey?
And you were so close you could see the glorious end in sight, but then the unthinkable happened.
How did you deal with it? Did it work out for you?
Where you forced to compromise? Or maybe (gasp), quit?
Pain in the as foot.
Pain in my left foot. Still.
It plagued me during the August Master’s Track & Field World Championships. In fact, it has bothered me all year.
In the Spring, it seemed to be a dominant topic at Lane 8.
By June however, I pretty much had stopped writing about the pain, but not because it went away.
Eventually, I had to suck it up and do what needed to be done to make it happen.
In Finland, it didn’t turn out the way I had dreamed, but that’s the beautiful lesson – nothing turns out the way we dream.
It’s either better or worse, but never the same.
Click here to go to the WMA Masters Athletics Track & Field 2010 Indoor World Championships in Kaamloops, British Columbia.
Most likely, I’ll be the only one clicking on the link. Why? Because there are not too many people smart enough over 40 years old (any age really), who focus on their wellness as much as I’m motivated to do.
Why? Well, um, well, I really don’t know. Probably has something to do with an unresolved emotional issue or a predisposition to over-achieve. Everyone has unique quirks. Staying healthy is one of mine.